Beautiful Card Recycling Project

I absolutely love beautifully made cards. I love admiring cards in shops, online, and long after I receive them. In fact, I've kept nearly every card I've ever received- sometimes for the exquisite detail, a hilarious message, simple colour combinations, or to keep my loved ones close.

There's something important about what we communicate through cards.

To me there's also something important about where they come from, and where they go. If I'm buying cards I tend to go to little shops with a stronger selection of handmade, or unique cards. I want the person receiving the card to have something special that could only come from me, and only be for them- like the card my father received for his 60th birthday.

I removed half of a card from my own collection (the half that I was willing to part with) and used it as the base for this new card. Super simple recycling- YAY!

I placed the card over a picture of my father on my computer (taping it in place) and traced the outline of his image. Note* I trace from my computer because the light makes it much easier than from a physical photo.

Using standard white glue I went over the basic outline of my father's image and applied beads (incredibly inexpensive, and purchased in a wide variety of places) using colours I thought appropriate

After his image was complete I looked at Starry Night and loosely imitated the style of swirls to fill in the rest of the card (again just using colours as I saw fit).

One of the comments about this card was "Oh my God! How do you have the time?!" And I have to admit that time is involved in this project (although the more you do anything, the more efficient you become- reducing the amount of time it will take). I spent about an hour making it. In that hour my husband was responsible for the kids, and I had to tell them more than once that they would have to wait for my undivided attention (patience I am glad to teach them). That isn't unreasonable, or unmanageable for me.

The end result was a cheap, recycled card that is completely unique and expresses simply, beautifully:

I Love You.

Do you have any cool, fun recycling projects? Share them with me HERE.